Accountants are valued professionals who sift through financial records and help to balance accounts for businesses and individuals. It's a profession that requires organisational and analytical skills, with accountants needing to deal with number-crunching and administration. But sometimes, like in all walks of life, some accountants have fallen foul of the law. Through deceptive techniques and fraudulent activity, they swindled hundreds of thousands of pounds from their victims, putting their financial situations at risk of jeopardy. Thankfully, their wrongdoing was uncovered and the law came after them. Between them, these accountants were sentenced to years behind bars for their wrongdoing. Here are four accountants who turned rogue and deceived members of the public. Lynnett Alptekin Lynette Alptekin (Image: Derbyshire Police) A heavily-pregnant accountant stole £360,000 from her employer before splurging the cash on a house, a car and trips abroad. Lynette Alptekin, aged 40, abused her position of trust with the company she worked for. She created fake suppliers and false invoices to transfer the cash into 10 of her personal bank accounts. However the fraudulent activity carried out by the married defendant unravelled when a new financial controller was brought in. They noticed a number of bank discrepancies and an investigation began, reports DerbyshireLive. Alptekin was arrested after the full extent of her crime was revealed before she admitted to spending the money on luxury items and financing trips to see her husband in
Turkey. Aaron Dinnes, prosecuting, said Altpekin worked for Clay Cross-based Carlton Technologies from September 2015 to December 2019. Company director Max Crampton read a victim impact statement to the court, revealing that his family-run business "nearly closed" due to Alptekin's wrongdoing. Rakesh Sidhpara Rakesh Sidhpara. A crooked accountant funded a luxury lifestyle and enjoyed trips to places like
Las Vegas and Dubai through a £400,000 VAT scam. Rakesh Sidhpara, of Wheatmoor Road in Sutton Coldfield , claimed more than 100 fraudulent repayments through fake firms and hijacked businesses. He used the cash to take "dozens" of holidays between 2010 and 2013 to destinations including
India,
Mexico, Dubai, Las Vegas and even a trip to CNN's headquarters in Atlanta for a VIP studio. Sidhpara also used the money to buy a sprawling Birmingham home and lease an expensive Mercedes. He and Ritu, his wife, fled the country after his crimes were rumbled . She later returned and was jailed for money laundering offences. But Sidhpara stayed in Cyprus and tried to delay his own trial by sending the
UK authorities a forged five-page medical report, which claimed he could not attend because of kidney stones. He even sent several emails directly to the judge. Sidhpara, 35, acted as an accountant for a number of small firms. He had the fraudulent VAT repayments paid into various bank accounts, which included some belonging to him and his 32-year-old wife, who helped him launder more than £80,000. He was jailed for five-and-a-half years in December, 2018. Ritu Sidhpara was sentenced to 23 months in
prison for money laundering. Russell Payne An accountant fleeced more than £763,000 from his victims and worked alongside them to prolong the cover-up. Russell Payne used his trade in accounting to steal the cash. Years of fraudulent activity was uncovered by
police officers after one of Payne's clients came forward. They reported being signed up to a loan without their consent, worth £42,000, after a false loan application was made in August 2016. Between June 2015 and January 2017, false loan applications were secretly filed by Payne. Using falsified accounts, he also sold shares in his business. Alongside this, Payne took out loans on behalf of the clients he was working with. But an investigation found Payne gained a total of £763,799.98 through fraudulent activity against his clients and other businesses he was involved with. In December 23, the 63-year-old was handed a six-and-a-half-year sentence at Lincoln Crown Court after being convicted of six counts of fraud by false representation. Investigating officer Detective Constable James Norton from ECU said: "Payne’s offending was extremely calculated, often going to great lengths to hide his offending so he could continue doing so unnoticed." Stephen Day Stephen Day was jailed for more than 11 years after defrauding the NHS , companies and individuals. The 56-year-old defrauded and took advantage of a wide variety of victims to the tune of more than £1.3million by lying, manipulating personal relationships and using his authority in
Job positions. Among the targets included companies, individuals and three NHS trusts. He used the stolen cash to fund a lavish lifestyle, allowing him to buy several properties and travel abroad, including a trip to Malta. Significant work was needed to calculate the true value of his ill-gotten gains, as Day used a web of transactions between several accounts to conceal his offending. On April 15, 2021, was sentenced to 11 years and five months imprisonment at Leeds Crown Court after he pleaded guilty to 10 counts of fraud and two counts of theft. On January 6 last year, a confiscation order was made against Day, covering all of his available assets, which together were valued at £237,688.61. At the time, he was given three months to pay. In the event of non-payment, the default sentence was set at an additional 20 months' imprisonment if he failed to pay. Tori Boycott, specialist prosecutor for the Crown Prosecution Service, said: "Stephen Day was calculated in his offending and despite his attempts to conceal the true scale of funds fraudulently gained and filing for bankruptcy, this did not prevent a Confiscation Order from being made."